Wrench having separable work encircling portion and pivoted dog grippers



July 11, 1950 G. E. WERNER 2,514,687

WRENCH HAVING SEPARABLE WORK ENCIRCLING PORTION AND PIVOTED DOG GRIPPERS Filed Sept. 12, 1945 IN V EN TOR.

c, EUGENE WERNER BY,

Patented July 11, 1950.

WRENCH HAVING SEPARABLE worm EN CIRCLING PORTION GRIPPERS AND PIVOTED .DOG

G. Eugene Werner, Portland, Oreg.

Application September 12, 1945, .Serial No.-615,781

' Claims. (01. 81-411) This invention relates to a pipe wrench. More particularly it relates to a close quarters pipe wrench which is equally useful where there is an abundance of room.

An object of the invention is to produce a pipe wrench that will screw or unscrew a pipe, either in repair work or new installations where the space around the pipe for a wrench to work is very restricted. j

Another object is to provide a pipe wrench, the operating head of which is divisible into parts for encompassing or removal from a pipe, so that even with pipes that lieagainst a wall, the pipe wrench may be applied and used by springing the pipe a fractional part of an inch away.

A further object is to produce a pipe wrench structure employing th usual toothed pipe grabbing parts in plural arrangement withinv the wrench head, but with each of such parts working independentlyof allothers so that a fiat or hard spot, sometimes encountered, will not interfere with the operation of the wrench.

The foregoing and other objects that will be plain to makers and users of pipe tools, constitute the purpose of this invention, the particular advantageous features of which are pointed out clearly in the claims that complete this specification.

A drawing exemplifying the best form in which I contemplate making this wrench is shown for purposes of explanation but not as defining the scope of the invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side View of a complete wrench according to the invention with parts sectioned for clarity of disclosure;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the parts of the wrench head, that mates with its counterpart to complete a head as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a partly sectioned view of Fig. 1 taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a cross section of Fig. 1 on the line 4-4.

Further describing the structure shown in the drawing. An annular ring-like wrench head indicated by numeral 1 with a tang portion T is made of two duplicate parts, one of which is indicated by numeral I in Fig. 2. The joint between the parts is made intercepting as at 2 and the one shown can be regarded as the lower one in Fig. 1. The peculiar intercepting joint having the necessary resistance to stress in any direction, when complete, is formed by placing both a tongue and an adjacent groove on each piece, the surfaces being exact duplicates, which endwise will not fallout.

interlock when one part is reversed for lateral engagement as shown in Fig. 3. These parts or halves of the head areprovided with pockets 3 within which are swingably mounted toothed pipe dogs 4, said pockets'being provided with cylindrical seats to which the dogs 4 are smoothly fitted; the cylindrical portion of the pockets .3 and the dogs beingirieach case a bit more than a semi-cylinder so that the dogs being inserted vEach dog is made with a "toothed pipe engaging part 5, which is backed by a, spring 1. The two parts, after being brought together as shown in Fig. 1, are securely locked into working position by the socket handle 8, which engages by a system of interrupted threads!) inside of'the socket handle 8, which mate with a complementar interrupted thread system III on the two parts of the tang T.

A pipe in position to be worked is indicated by numeral H in Fig. '1 and as shown in that figure, working the handle 8 up and down will impart an intermittent counter-clockwise revolving motion to the pipe H, screwing or unscrewing it according to which end is threaded into a fitting, the pipe serving as a ratchet wheel and the dogs as pawls. Should reverse motion be required, the tool can be taken off and reassembled the opposite side up. As drawn, there is a dog in each half of the head, each of which applies its turning force to the pipe independently of the other, by virtue of the arcuate pipe supports I2 which will'be an easy running fit for a given size of pipe.

.At the same time that the threaded socket is holding the tang T firmly in position with respect to its two parts, the intercepting joint is holding the other side of the head and if the tool is made of proper material, alloy steels are suggested, the result is a, wrench that is light, small enough to engage and turn a pipe in almost any position it may be found and also strong enough to take any manual force that can be applied to it. It is intended that a set of wrenches comprising a head for each size of pipe and a handle that takes any of the heads, for sizes say up to and including 1 pipe can successfully be made with two pipe dogs as shown, while larger sizes can be made with two dogs in each part of the head and a larger tang and handle.

Having fully disclosed my pipe wrench so that anyone familiar with such tools can understand its manufacture and use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A wrench for pipes and the like compris- 56 ing a two part annular ring-like head member ach part having an integral threaded half tang for a handle, the said parts made intercepting for interlocking together by duplicate longitudinal tongues and adjacent grooves in the two part head, said tongues andgrooves being parallel to the longitudinal axis of said head, said interlocking completed by reversing a ringpart and matching the tongues intothe grooves,-a socketed handle member, screw fitted to the" tang, the head member being provided with cylindrical dog seats and dogs in said seats that project within the inside of the ring-like head member .to;en.-: I

gage a pipe encompassed by -th' 'head i 2. A close quarters wrench for pipes and th like cylindrical bodies comprising an annular ring member, the inside diameter "of which is a running fit for the cylindrical-body; said ring being in two equal half parts, a semicylindrical tang integral with each part, longitudinal tongue and groove. intercepting'frneans formed on the ring, said intercepting 'm'eansj'bein'g duplicate tongue and adjacentgroove m'eanson 'each'piece,

that will interengage when one part 'is reversed with respect to'the other, 'soflthat the two half parts form a ring, a socketed handlemadefto; fit over the tangs when brought 'togetheriand, lockable j therewith by a part revolution of said handle, the said ring having fpipe engaging jaws n the inside thereof 'and thet'woring partsw'ith tangs movable towards each other "from ,fi ee to locking engagement after the same are" placed around a pipe.

3. A Wrench for pipes oi the lik comprising an annular ring-like had"port ion' comprising two separable half parts each. provided with an integral threaded half tan thtwd parts of said head being 'dulg ilic'ates, interlockingly en gageable by a tongue with adjacent g roove'on each part, said tongues and, grooves being parallel with the plane of separationv of thering, an

interiorly threaded 's:ockft l ike' hahdldeifgfctive to complete the interlocking of Lthe said halves, when it'is threadably engaged, with the 'threaded tang, and engaging means "mounted within on Jeachpiece, .eachgroove and tongue being .iparallel to'the longitudinal axis of the half head portions and being-of angular section. 5 A closequarters wrench, comprising a two "p'artsepa'r ablahead defined as duplicate half J annular ring portions each with an integral half tang portion projecting therefrom, said parts m'ovablesidewise together to look into an annular ring with a, tang, said tang parts and the oppositeparting surfaces of the ring each being provided with a 'groove'and'a mating tongue, said grooves and tongues parallel to the longitudinal axis of the head'parts and soformed that when movedsidewise together the grooves and tongues interllock against any separating movement savethereverse of the'movement that brought them together, pipeengaging means carried by the ring formed of the parts and 'a handle fittedonthe completeta'ng. I

'G.YEUGENE'WERNER.

' REFERENCES," ol rnn The following r'eferences 'are record, V

fileof this patent: f 1 v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name I Date 278,264 PattonL' -"May 22, 1883 458,079 Thorn Aug. 18, 1891 742,638 Harding Oct; 27, 1903 1,902,216 Buttress LL; Mar.'-21, 1933 "Johansen Aug-, 15,1933 

